


Unpave My Path

by turnonmyheels



Category: Friday Night Lights
Genre: Other, Threesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-29
Updated: 2010-06-29
Packaged: 2017-10-10 07:54:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/97395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/turnonmyheels/pseuds/turnonmyheels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Follows events in and around El Accidente, with a love triangle twist.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unpave My Path

Jason wishes he was in his own bed instead of this monstrosity with its buttons and built in remote control. It's slower than him – as slow as he is now - and all it does is remind him of what's gone. He'd rather be in any bed he's ever been in than this one, even his sleeping bag. But the bed he really misses is the twin he and Tim used to sleep in. He misses feeling Tim's feet tangling with his. The too-long mop of his hair sticky with sweat along his arm.

Just like he misses the queen-sized bed he has now and the way Lyla feels spooned in front him, her long, silky hair spreading around them.

He wants them both; he's always wanted them both, but he's only willing to admit it now. See, now he knows he's never going to have anything he wants and that makes it safer, somehow. Easier to picture. He wants Lyla in front of him, face pressed against his chest and he wants Tim behind him covering his back, protecting him. He wants them to hold each other's hand and take turns kissing him, kissing each other.

Jason closes his eyes and prays. He tells God that if he ever gets a chance at happiness again, he's going to grab it with both hands and not let go.

That he forgets his hands don't work for even a second is what makes him think that maybe he might have a chance.

He's got to get out of this place first, otherwise he'll never see Tim again. Tim doesn't do hospitals and Jason can't ask him to.

~*~

Tim sits in his truck outside the Rehab Center and takes a swig of beer. Wishes it was something stronger. He hates hospitals, has his whole damn life. One too many trips to the ER from his mom and dad's drunken brawling.

He throws the empty bottle out of the truck window and listens in satisfaction as the glass shatters. He loves Jason with all his heart - they were brothers, friends, more than both. He'd trade his own life to keep Jason from getting hurt. And now here he is, in a place Tim never wants anyone to be - and he's too chickenshit to go inside and see him.

Tim knows Jason understands – hell, Jason is the only one who ever knew about the screaming and the shouting and hitting. Not like the drinking, the whole damn town knew about that.

Jason _knows_.

And God knows if Jason knows, it ought to be good enough for Lyla. Except God himself probably isn't good enough for Lyla Garrity.

He still half expects lightning to strike him when he has thoughts like that.

Tim figures if God doesn't listen to the prayers of eleven-year-old boys he sure as shit doesn't listen to the blasphemous thoughts of no-count rednecks who drink too much and are too chickenshit to visit their best friends in the hospital. Fuck. Not hospital - Recovery Center.

He grabs his keys out of the ignition and walks around the outside of the building. Jason's room looks out on the parking lot, so even half-buzzed he should to be able to find it. There's a row of bushes trying to keep him from getting closer. Tim may let the smell of Lysol and the sound of pagers and the bustle of the nurses keep him out, but he'll be god-damned if he lets a bush. He breaks most the limbs off two of the damn things before he can touch the window in Jason's room.

Jason's sitting there, in that damn wheelchair, looking at the pictures Lyla's pinned up on the wall. It's pointless to get this close and not let Jason know he's there – even if he kinda wants to - so he taps on the window. Jason turns the chair (can't turn his head, neck's still broken and that makes Tim's blood run cold) toward the window

Their eyes meet and Jason rolls across the room to the window. His hands can't close around the wheels but he gets there. Tim puts his hands on the glass and pushes up, but the window won't budge. Jason tries to flip the lock but can't grip it well enough and finally, finally just puts both hands, both curled up hands, on the glass.

Tim never takes his off.

Lyla's not here and the team's not here and the glass isn't thick enough to block sound much less the tear that falls down Tim's face. "I love you, man." Jason says and hits the glass a little, enough to make it move.

"Love you too, Six." Tim manages, after what feels like an eternity. He sniffs but doesn't take his hands away from the window. "You get this window open, and I'll come back."

"How about you break me out of here tomorrow, we'll go to the lake?"

Tim smiles for the first time since Jason got hurt and promises he'll be there. He looks back when gets past the damned bushes and sees the smudge his hands left on the window and Jason's hands still pressed against it.

~*~

She's mad at Tim, so mad she wants to slap him across the face; who does he think he is, kidnapping Jason from the hospital? Doesn't he know Jason is paralyzed and needs almost constant medical supervision?

But Lyla can't argue with Jason's heartfelt invitation to join them or his _I need this. You know how much I need this._

She does know. And she knows how much it hurts _her_ that coming to the hospital every day, spending all her free time with Jason, isn't what he needs. He needs Tim. So Lyla swallows down the anger and the ever-present guilt and climbs into the truck between them. It's only one part interest in whatever Tim's got planned. All the rest is determination to make sure Jason is safe. And maybe a little that Tim doesn't get too drunk and run his mouth about the two of them.

She doesn't expect to have fun, to laugh and smile, to remember everything so clearly and to look forward to what is still to come. As they sit around the campfire, Tim drinking beer and Jason laughing at his jokes - Lyla knows in her heart and in her soul that everything is going to be fine, better than fine. It isn't going to be perfect, because nothing ever is. But it is going to be good.

"You can never tell him." Her voice sounds cruel and she doesn't mean it that way. Tim doesn't seem to hear the mean, though, or if he does he lets it roll past him like he lets everything else.

"I know that." The hug doesn't feel like good-bye or a beginning. It feels like comfort, like coming home and Lyla knows, she _knows_ like she knows "sine of an angle is opposite over hypotenuse" that together she and Tim can get Jason through anything.

~*~

Today is without a doubt the best day of his life since the accident. It brought back memories of camp fires, sleeping bags - long, hot afternoons in the boat with a cooler full of beer, Tim at the helm, and Lyla sunning herself in the back. Brought back better memories of stealing Billy's porn magazines and spreading one sleeping bag by the fire for him and Tim to sleep on, with another to cover them. Their laughter as they tried to figure out who would get laid first. Who had the best rack in their grade. The accusations from Billy about them stealing his porn to circle jerk.

The internet really is a boy's best friend you can learn anything there, even what a circle jerk is; the next time they stole those magazines, they had a circle jerk of two. By the time they were fourteen they hadn't needed the magazines for an excuse, but their furtive handjobs still slowly dropped off as Jason became serious with Lyla and Tim and Tyra (and few of the Rally girls) did their ... thing.

When he didn't think he was ever going to get it up again he imagined what it would be like to have Tim make love to Lyla in his place. To run his hand down Tim's back again and if he got enough control back in his hands to slide one between them and help them both out. But watching them from the window cling to one another, watching Lyla press her forehead to Tim's he knows they'd gone ahead without him. Without his permission. Without him being there to share and give what he can.

It makes him want to shout. Makes him want to smash Tim's face in with that fucking three pound dumb bell. Makes him want to yell at Lyla, call her a whore and make her cry. Jason wheels his way to his room and finds Herc there watching TV.

"QB."

"Herc." Jason nods at him and wonders how he can bring the subject up.

"Hear your girlfriend and a boy hijacked you for the day. Good for you." Herc doesn't look at him just keeps changing the channel.

"It was."

Herc stops changing channels and looks at him. "What happened?"

"I think they're sleeping together." Jason says and tries to pull his eyes off the pictures of the three of them pinned to the wall but can't.

"Ouch. Didn't think the cheerleader was the type."

"I thought before - that I was going to be impotent and that maybe. Somehow." He finally tears his eyes off the picture and stares instead at his ruined hands. "The three of us would work something out. But ... "

"But you got it up today and found out they were fucking anyway." Herc starts flipping channels again. "It's incredible - that first time it works again."

"The nurse ... " Jason trails off and watches the channels flipping on the screen. He clears his throat and tries again. "She said sex was out of the question. Something about infections and it's just ..."

"That's bullshit." Herc says turning the TV off and tossing the remote on his bed. "It's out the question right _now_ but when you're potty trained all over again and have some more PT you can have all the sex you want."

Jason's jaw drops and the anger comes rushing back. "Then what the fuck did she say that to me for?"

"Cause she's a Bible-thumping freak who thinks sex outside of marriage will make you burn in hell." Herc rolls toward Jason and elbows him in the arm on his way out the door. "Give it time QB, you'll get it back."

Jason stares at the pictures on the wall until his eyes are red-rimmed and bleary. He picks up the telephone and calls Tim.

"You come back here tomorrow after practice and bring Lyla. We've got some things to talk about." He hangs up as Tim says "Street?"

No way is he letting them get away with it. The question is if he'll have either one of them by the time he finishes letting them have it.

~*~

Jason's in the hall when they find him, staring out a window. Lyla calls his name but he doesn't acknowledge her. No tilt of the head, or lifting of the arm, or turning the chair around. She looks at Tim and sees he's gone white, lips pressed tight together as he stares out the window. Lyla walks forward until she can see what they're seeing. Tim's ratty pickup parked behind her Cruiser.

She puts a hand on the back of his chair and says "Jason, it's n-"

"Don't you lie to me Lyla Garrity. Don't you _fucking_ lie to me." Jason won't turn and look at her or Tim, but he does roll closer to the window, away from her touch. "What about you Tim? Are you gonna lie to me too?"

Lyla turns to Tim and glares at him, warning on her lips and in her eyes: _don't do it._

"Jason, I've never lied to you." Tim wipes his nose on the sleeve of his shirt. "Me and Lyla we ... were hurtin' and missin' you and it got - "

"Please, Jason," Lyla interrupts but he's not having it.

"Shut up, Lyla, at least Tim will tell me the truth." He rolls close enough to the window that he can rest his hand on the glass and still doesn't look at her.

"It got out of hand." Lyla steps back and watches Tim close the distance between him and Jason. "I'm sorry it got out of hand and I'm sorry it happened behind your back." He rests his hand on Jason's shoulder and it's all she can do not to scream because Jason doesn't flinch away from Tim's touch, like he did hers.

"But I won't disrespect Lyla and say I wish it'd never happened." Both hands on Jason now, not caressing him with soft touches like she'd do. No, Tim's holding on tight, squeezing into the muscles and not letting go. "And I won't disrespect you and say I'm glad you weren't there, 'cause I'm not. I wish ... "

Jason's still silent and Tim lets go and takes a step back. "God damn it, Jason." Lyla flinches, she can't help herself. "You've always known what I wanted." He wipes his face with his sleeve. "Never wanted it like this though." He walks past Lyla, far enough away that he doesn't come close enough for her to touch. "I'd rather've died than had it happen like this."

And he leaves. He walks out and leaves her there with Jason, who won't look at her, won't let her touch him. She takes a few steps forward, not anywhere near close enough but enough to see his face as he watches Tim run down the sidewalk and climb in his truck. She sees the pain in his heart written clearly on his face and wants to fix it. Make it better. "Jason - "

"You made him lie to me, Lyla." She watches Jason stare at Tim who's just sitting there, staring right back up at them. Jason tilts his head back and starts to laugh - it sounds cracked and broken. "I was going to talk to you and him about this." He gestures at his lap and she thinks she understands; he doesn't give her the chance to ask, though, just talks right over. "I didn't think I was ever going to get it up again and I was going to see - "

He tilts his head and her tears finally fall because she knows that tilt would have been a shake, a shake big enough to make water fly everywhere, before. Long before. Now, he hasn't got that kind of motion range.

"See if maybe the three of us could do something. Make it work. But you," he turns toward her and finally, _finally_ looks at her. "You went ahead without me." Jason rolls toward her and takes her by the hand. "Is that how it's going to be from now on? You going ahead and doing whatever, whenever, _who_ever and me finding out after?" He squeezes her hand and it's so much stronger than it was last week. Still not strong enough, not yet. "Cause I can't live like that Lyla Garrity. And I won't."

She falls to her knees and buries her face in his lap and cries like she hasn't since that night in the rain with Tim, saying "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," over and over, like her apology is really all he needs to make everything right, the way her mama always said it would.

Jason pets her head and grabs hold of a lock of her hair, twisting it, and says "So am I."

When Lyla pulls herself together enough to look Jason in the eye and talk about their future, she's on her knees in a hallway of a recovery center. There's people who call her Advocato walking past them, not paying them any mind and Tim Riggins who must have snuck back in while she was breaking down - is standing behind Jason with his hands on his shoulders, fingers digging in enough to leave white all around them.

Tim meets her eyes and says, "So am I."

Herc rolls by and gives them all an evil look. "Sounds like you could use some private time, QB - rooms all yours."

Lyla stands up, brushes off her knees and wipes the tears from her eyes. Jason still has hold of one of her hands and doesn't let go. She enters Jason's room first and Tim last, closing the door behind him.

They sit and stand and stare at each other and nobody says a word.


End file.
